Where to get the latest anti-Spam setting and best practices?

Question asked by Steve Guluk - 2/16/2018 at 11:18 AM

Answered

Seems there should be some centralized location to get the latest on anti-spam best practices.

There are some great people helping in this Portal area but it seems Smartertools should really have a centralized area and keep it updated on what works and does not.

If not here, where else? Reddit?

When is Blockchain Smart Contracts going to come into play and solve spam once and for all? Something to think of huh? :-)

8 Replies

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Hemen Shah Replied

2/17/2018 at 6:06 AM

As far as i know there is no such location to get the latest updates, recently there was one thread open in which MBF has updated their settings and last seen is as on 31st Jan'18 if same is useful to you.
http://know.mailsbestfriend.com/papers/SmarterMail-Antispam-Settings.shtml

Linda Pagillo Replied

2/19/2018 at 6:49 AM

Hi Steve. I actually wrote the paper that Hemen posted a link to above (Thank you Hemen!). If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to reach out to me at any time. Thanks!

Linda Pagillo
Mail's Best Friend
Email: linda.pagillo@mailsbestfriend.com
Web: www.mailsbestfriend.com

Authorized SmarterTools Reseller

Authorized Message Sniffer Reseller

Employee Replied

2/22/2018 at 1:03 PM

Employee Post Marked As Answer

Posting the Answer to this thread by Hemen Shah:

Steve Guluk Replied

2/22/2018 at 1:32 PM

I have those rules in place. Thanks for noting this though as many of us used Bruse Barnes rules prior. Not sure if he ever recovered :-(

Steve Guluk Replied

2/22/2018 at 1:35 PM

Hi Linda,
Yes I have those in place and initiated Declude (which I used years ago with iMail Server). It's important that there be sufficient details in the "Paper" and Declude as using both can cause problems since many of the same rules are then applied twice. I unwittingly had to figure this out myself and had a number of upset customers.

If using the Paper, is there much benefit from Declude? If so is there another Paper that allows writing Rules and understanding the needed Syntax?

Linda Pagillo Replied

2/22/2018 at 1:53 PM

Hi Steve. At the top of the paper it specifically says "What are the most effective settings for SmarterMail’s Anti-Spam if it’s the only Anti-Spam I’m using for my server?" Perhaps I need to add something there which says to either use Declude OR the paper, but not both. I will make that change later today. I apologize that it confused you and I can see your point. If you use the paper instead of Declude that is fine, but I strongly suggest that you use Declude if only for it's Hijack program. Hijack prevents mass messages from leaving your server in the event of a compromised account. It is very effective with keeping your server off of blacklists. You can use only the Hijack component if you wish. When you installed Declude, simply rename the global.cfg to global.cfg.off and also rename the virus.cfg to virus.cfg.off. This will disable the antispam portion of Declude and it will leave the Hijack component in place. We don't currently have a paper explaining how to write filters, but we do have free pre-defined filters that you can download from our website to be used with Declude. By looking at the filters we already have, you may be able to write your own using PCRE. If you have something specific that you would like to filter out, please let me know and I can build a custom filter for you. If you have any further questions please let me know and I will help you to the best of my ability. Thanks.

Linda Pagillo
Mail's Best Friend
Email: linda.pagillo@mailsbestfriend.com
Web: www.mailsbestfriend.com

Authorized SmarterTools Reseller

Authorized Message Sniffer Reseller

Steve Guluk Replied

2/22/2018 at 2:19 PM

Hi Linda,
Thanks for your reply. I have looked at the Filters added and updated to match the patterns. This also seems easier to use a Custom Filter in Smartermail.

I like the idea of Hijack and will review to make sure it is running. It's a separate download right?

Linda Pagillo Replied

2/22/2018 at 2:37 PM

My pleasure Steve! Yeah, writing Declude filters can be a bit challenging if someone is not versed in using PCRE. Declude Hijack is not a separate download. The Declude suite includes antivirus, antispam and hijack. You can get the installer from our site at http://mailsbestfriend.com/downloads/. You will want to download the Declude 4.12.11 new install for SmarterMail. Once you installed it, change the global.cfg to global.cfg.off and the virus.cfg to virus.cfg.off. That will disable antispam and vulnerability scanning. Also, rename the hijack.cfg.off to hijack.cfg to turn it on. Once you do that, be sure to edit the HijackNotify.eml and change the TO address in that file to an address that you would like alerts sent to if Hijack permanently holds mail. Once you do all of this, log into your SM admin interface and be sure to enable Declude for Filtering. This will activate Hijack. Also, here are a few very helpful articles you can look at...

http://know.mailsbestfriend.com/hijacked_email_account--1189325784.shtml
http://know.mailsbestfriend.com/blacklisted_while_using_declude_hijack--534485661.shtml
http://know.mailsbestfriend.com/hijack_has_permanently_held_email-1043235164.shtml
http://know.mailsbestfriend.com/hijack_held_email_notification-1743303226.shtml
http://know.mailsbestfriend.com/how_to_allow_certain_users_and_ips_to_bypass_declude_hijack-601646214.shtml

Again, if these articles do not answer the questions that you may have, please ask and I will assist. Thanks.

P.S., I just now updated the paper to let folks know to not use the paper and Declude.

Linda Pagillo
Mail's Best Friend
Email: linda.pagillo@mailsbestfriend.com
Web: www.mailsbestfriend.com

Authorized SmarterTools Reseller

Authorized Message Sniffer Reseller

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